48 Tons of Silver Recovered From World War II
Shipwreck

By ALON HARISH | ABC News –

Wed, Jul
18, 2012

Can you believe this
recovery? 48 tons is a whole lot of silver. It is interesting for me to
see that the amount of un-recovered treasure in the world is astounding.
For each of the treasure stories that we read about, there are dozens
of untold stories still out there. It does take some serious effort, but
if we invest the time and energy to do the proper research and field
work, we can find something of significant value too. I know this
because I have been doing it since I built my first Heath-Kit metal
detector.

This image taken July 5, 2012 provided by Odyssey Marine, Inc. shows the
discovery of silver on the SS Gairsoppa. Forty-eight tons of silver bullion has
been recovered from the SS Gairsoppa and returned to the British
Government the company announced Wednesday July 18, 2012. The record-breaking
operation has so far produced the heaviest and deepest recovery of precious
metals from a shipwreck. (AP Photo/Odyssey Marine Inc.)

An American company has made what is being called the heaviest
and deepest recovery of precious metals from a shipwreck.

The Tampa, Fla.-based Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. announced Wednesday
that it had recovered 48 tons of silver bullion from the SS Gairsoppa, a sunken
British cargo ship in three miles of water off the coast of Ireland. Between the
Gairsoppa, torpedoed by a German U-boat during World War II, and the SS Mantola,
sunk by a German submarine during World War I, Odyssey said in a press release
that about 240 tons of silver may be recovered by the end of the operation.

The recovery is being made under a contract awarded by the U.K. government,
which will keep 20 percent of the cargo's value, estimated to be in the tens of
millions of dollars. The Gairsoppa became U.K. property after the government
paid the owners of the ship an insurance sum of £325,000 in 1941. Records
indicate the silver was valued at £600,000 in 1941.

The initial recovery of 48 tons consists of 1,203 silver bars and has been
transported to a secure facility in the United Kingdom, according to the
company.

"With the shipwreck lying approximately three miles below the surface of the
North Atlantic, this was a complex operation," Odyssey CEO Greg Stemm said in
Odyssey's release.

Odyssey contracted JBR Recovery Ltd., a European silver recovery and precious
metal processing company, to assist in refining and monetizing the recovered
silver.

The Gairsoppa and Mantola shipwrecks were discovered in 2011, and Odyssey
conducted reconnaissance dives at both sites in March and April 2012. Recovery
operations began in late May.